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WATERFORD — Shawn Monahan sounded as if he was in a “Wayne’s World” movie after winning the 40-lap Open Street Stock feature Friday at the New London Waterford Speedbowl. He claimed he was “not worthy” after taking the lead from Chad Baxter with eight laps to go on his way to victory. “Obviously the 55 was not worthy tonight, they were many faster cars,” Monahan said. “It was an amazing finish. Outside of the two years I was in management, I had won at least one race a year here since 1998. It’s nice to keep that streak going.”
Other winners were Christian Herman, Ed Ryan Jr., Josh Stringer and Darren Krantz Jr.
Christian Herman felt the turning point in his 25-lap X-Car victory came early when he avoided a major crash on the first lap. “I didn’t think I was going to get by anyone without wrecking,” Herman said. Once he avoided trouble, he whizzed past Chuck McDonald on a restart on lap 10 to grab the victory. Tim Burgess, who started in the rear of the field, rallied to finish second. McDonald finished third, but nailed down the Fall Shootout Series title.
Ed Ryan received some good news Friday when it was announced that he was the winner of the Super X-Car Fall Shootout after finishing second in the feature. Then he received another dose of good news when apparent race winner Jeremy Washburn failed to pass post-race inspection, giving him his seventh win of the season. Devin Tate overcame a sluggish start to finish second.
Ken Cassidy Jr. achieved another milestone Friday. He made a late charge in the 25-lap Truck feature, giving him the championship by 15 points over Josh Stringer. “I just had so much fun this year,” Cassidy said. “I have a great crew and a great team. I never would have won this title if it wasn’t for them. Cassidy has won the Truck crown in each of his first two seasons in the division. He also has won five Mini Stock championships.
Stringer, meanwhile, not only won the race, he also won the Triple Threat series by one point. “That was my goal tonight,” Stringer said. “I knew I didn’t have enough points for the overall championship, but at least I was able to win something.” Emma Monahan led early, but Stringer blistered around her early in the race and maintained that edge the rest of the way.
Darren Krantz Jr. was running in sixth place with 12 laps remaining in the Bandolero feature when a violent crash took out the drivers who were running up front — Brad Strickland, Milania Shilosky and Ryan Vanesse Jr. That moved Krantz up to second. One lap later, he blurred past Brent Robidoux for the lead and held on to win the special 20-lap Bandolero feature. “This was one of my spare cars, but it was fast,” Krantz said.
Shilosky, meanwhile, was a winner in the Fall Shoot out.
Racing continues today, Oct. 16, with qualifying races starting at 1:30 p.m. Features will be held for the NEMA Midgets, NEMA Lites, Pro-4 Modifieds, Legends, Seekonk Sports Trucks, the American three-quarter Midgets and the Open Street Stocks.
